A doctor identified as Megafu Chinelo, has been confirmed dead, hours after she made a post on Twitter, announcing that she had been shot on the Kaduna-bound train.
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), confirmed this in a statement on Tuesday.
“The President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof (Dr) Innocent A O Ujah, FNMA, FNAmed, mni and indeed all Medical and Dental Practitioners under the auspices of NMA are deeply saddened by the tragic, horrific and preventable death of one of our members, Dr Chinelo Megafu Nwando who is reported to have lost her life from injuries sustained from gun shots when the train she travelled in from Abuja to Kaduna was attacked by suspected bandits,” the statement read.
“I’m in the train, I have been shot. Please pray for me,” Dr Chinelo had tweeted, shortly after the train from Abuja to Kaduna was attacked by terrorists.
According to sources, she was a staff at the St. Gerald’s hospital in Kaduna.
Another twitter source also claimed that Chinelo had just resigned from her place of work and was making arrangements to leave the country.
The incident happened around 7:45 pm at Dutse village in Chikun Local Government Area, just a few kilometres from the Rigasa train station, which is the last transit point of the train.
The bandits were said to have opened fire, shot sporadically on the train, and later gained access into the train.
Both the police and the Kaduna State Government are, however, yet to confirm the number of casualties in the attack.
However, the photo of the corpse of a female spotted on the train and bearing a strong resemblance with the doctor began circulating on social media on Tuesday with many tweeting their condolences.
Many have also condemned those who had trolled Chinelo following her tweet, with comments like “are you dead now” and “you’ve been shot, but you still have time to tweet”.
See below some of the tweet:
“I’m in the train . I have been shot please pray for me”
“Nigeria can happen to you anywhere, any time and any day. Dr Chinelo will never be forgotten and the responses she got from Abolore, Woye, Iyabo and their cohorts will also not be forgotten.”
“Yesterday’s train in Kaduna that got attacked by bandits had a female medical doctor on it. She got shot and tweeted asking for prayers. Some people ridiculed her and mocked her. This morning she is dead. RIP Chinelo. May God console your family and may they find strength”
‘Someone claimed she got shot in an attack reported by verifiable media houses, but because you wanted to be patriotic and a govt apologist, you termed it a lie and trolled this lady. Those whotrolled this lady may never find help when needed most.”
